News headlines in January 2023, page 12

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among countries that have the highest prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health risks in the world. Now, UN health agency WHO, is pledging to work more closely with them, to help save and improve lives. 

Sri Lanka must fully compensate victims of the Easter Sunday 2019 terrorist attacks, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Wednesday, following a recent decision by the country’s top court. 

The UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday that he did not believe that there was an opportunity yet, to organise “a serious peace negotiation” between the warring parties in Ukraine, nearly a year on from Russia’s full-scale invasion.

GWANGIU, South Korea, Jan 17 (IPS) - Given the tensions in the Indo-Pacific, a co-operation between South Korea, Japan and NATO sends a message of deterrence and shared liberal values.

SYDNEY, Jan 17 (IPS) - Inflation worries topped Ipsos’s What Worries the World survey in 2022 overtaking COVID concerns. The return of inflation caught major central banks, e.g., the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Bank of England, European Central Bank “off guard”. The persistence of inflation also surprised the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The return of inflation and its persistence exposed the poverty of the economics profession, unable to agree on its causes and required policy responses. It also exposed the profession’s anti-working class biases.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17 (IPS) - A new variant of Covid-19, spreading across New York city, is forcing businesses, banks and high-powered financial institutions to re-introduce flexible working hours after a brief hiatus.

At the United Nations, the lockdown has reduced the 39-storeyed Secretariat building to a veritable ghost town since most staffers continue to work from home - at least two or three days per week.

Addressing the Security Council on Tuesday, Ilze Brands Kehris, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, expressed concern about restrictions to freedom of religion in Ukraine, including territory under Russian control.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has unveiled plans to speed up the licensing and use of effective novel vaccines against tuberculosis (TB), the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 and the 13th leading cause of death worldwide. 

A group of UN Special Rapporteurs condemned Iran’s arbitrary detention of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele on Tuesday, and demanded his immediate release, after he was sentenced to a cumulative 40-year jail term by a court in Tehran.

Some 50 women and girls in Burkina Faso who were abducted last week while looking for food must be released immediately, the United Nations said on Tuesday.